In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Alexander Budzier, Fellow in Management Practice at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, to share insights on what project success actually means and why traditional metrics fail to capture it.

What You’ll Learn:

• What truly separates successful projects from slow-motion failures
• Why the best leaders focus on building systems rather than giving firebrand speeches
• How projects can succeed spectacularly on one dimension while failing on another
• The “uniqueness trap” as the single biggest red flag for cost blowouts
• Why investing 20–30% of the total cost in planning dramatically improves outcomes
• How AI is already boosting individual productivity by 40%, but only 5% at the corporate level

Alexander Budzier is a Fellow in Management Practice at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, where he researches and teaches how to set major projects up for success. His dataset of more than 22,000 capital investment projects across 126 countries is the empirical foundation for two books published by Wiley in 2025: How to Measure Anything in Project Management, co-authored with Douglas Hubbard and Andreas Leed, an Amazon number-one bestseller in software and IT project management; and Intelligent Change: The Science Behind Digital Transformations, which draws on Oxford research to establish what actually drives success in digital programs.

His research has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, where his article on uniqueness bias, co-authored with Bent Flyvbjerg, was selected for HBR's 10 Must Reads 2026, and in leading journals across management, energy, and transport. He is CEO of Oxford Global Projects, a specialist advisory firm, advising governments and major program teams across transport, infrastructure, IT, and energy. He completed his doctorate at Oxford in 2015, having previously worked at McKinsey's Business Technology Office in Düsseldorf and Chicago.

• Alexander Budzier on LinkedIn
• Oxford Global Projects Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Julia Dhar of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to discuss why most change initiatives stall, how to architect decisions that accelerate adoption, and the human behavioral science principles that separate transformation success from failure.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to shift from false alignment to true agreement
• Why agency matters more than involvement in change initiatives
• How to architect choices that accelerate adoption
• The critical difference between threat, fitness, and destiny organizational change narratives
• Why process excellence is inseparable from human success

Julia Dhar is a Harvard-trained behavioral scientist and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group, where she founded and leads BCG’s Behavioral Science Lab. She has spent more than a decade applying experimental behavioral science—drawing from psychology, economics, and neuroscience—to large-scale organizational change, advising CEOs and leadership teams across industries and countries. Julia’s TED talks on productive disagreement and constructive conversations have been viewed more than 8.5 million times. She is a Forbes columnist who has written for The Financial Times and Harvard Business Review and is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Advisory Board on Social Trust, and the National Advisory Board for Disagree Better. She holds a Master's in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor's degree in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Sydney. She has worked in more than 25 countries.

• Julia Dhar on LinkedIn
• Boston Consulting Group Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn

In this episode of The Shift Code Podcast, host Pierre Le Manh is joined by Roger Martella of GE Vernova to dive into how a 2023 spinoff from GE transformed a legacy industrial conglomerate into a purpose-built energy technology company.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to balance short-term nimbleness with long-term strategic conviction
• The simplicity principle for transformation
• Why service mentality unlocks innovation at scale
• How to navigate policy misalignment without compromising purpose
• The role of purpose in driving enterprise-wide alignment

Roger Martella is Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Head of Government Affairs at GE Vernova, where he leads global efforts to address the energy trilemma: reliability, affordability, and sustainability. Previously, he served as General Counsel of the U.S. EPA, confirmed unanimously by the Senate, and as principal counsel for complex environmental litigation at the DOJ.

Episode Resources:

• Roger Martella on LinkedIn
• GE Vernova Website
• Pierre Le Manh on LinkedIn
• Project Management Institute Website
• Project Management Institute LinkedIn